News

The chairmen of the lower house and the Senate, Miloslav Vlcek and Premysl Sobotka, will meet their EU counterparts next week to discuss the future of the European constitutional treaty and reforms of the block. The conference of parliament speakers from EU member states will be held on May 26th and 27th in the Slovak capital Bratislava. The participants are also expected to discuss the roles and positions of national parliaments in EU countries and the issue of national versus European identity.

Belarus opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich praised former Czech president Vaclav Havel and fellow activists for helping to prevent Minsk gain a seat on the UN's Human Rights Council, the CTK news agency reported on Friday. Mr Milinkevich said special thanks were due to Mr Havel, to the Czech branch of the Human Rights Watch, the Czech NGO People in Need and to Civic Belarus, after Minsk's bid for a seat was defeated in a vote on Thursday. Mr Havel called for UN countries to reject Belarus's candidacy, saying that its own human rights record was "a source of constant concern" and that its bid represented "an insult to all Belarussians passionate about liberty." Vaclav Havel, a former leader of the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism in former Czechoslovakia in 1989, is a member of the Civic Belarus association. The playwright has been a constant critic of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, sometimes dubbed "Europe's last dictator."

Reigning Olympic decathlon champion Roman Sebrle admitted on Friday that a bacterial infection coupled with fever could prevent him from competing fully against US rival Bryan Clay at Gotzis, Austria, next weekend. The May 26-27 meet could be the only chance for a clash between Sebrle and Clay, who beat the Czech to world gold in 2005, before this year's World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Sebrle told Mlada fronta Dnes on Friday that he only resumed his training on Thursday after a week out and under such conditions it is impossible that he can compete for first place at Gotzis against Clay.

The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, has described Austrian protesters against a Czech nuclear power plant as "loonies" ("magory"). Speaking to Czech television cameras, Mr Schwarzenberg said "knowing those loonies, they would continue holding border blockades". This week Austrian anti-nuclear activists said they would block all 16 crossings between the two states, if Vienna did not file a lawsuit against the Czech Republic. The Austrian government has sent a diplomatic note, saying the Czechs had not fulfilled the Melk agreement on safety at the Temelin nuclear station in south Bohemia.

Speaking on a visit to Prague on Friday, Austrian Interior Minister Gunther Platter said his government was committed to ensuring free movement on the border, regardless of developments in the dispute over Temelin.